Volunteering is something that not only helps give you a deep level of personal satisfaction, it is also a necessary tool for many of the World’s charitable organizations to help with their causes. If I was to be honest, I used to be a little selfish and go for the whole ‘charity starts at home’ nonsense, that was until my buddy Sam Zherka invited me to help at a local homeless shelter on Christmas Day around 4 years ago.

The feeling of helping others on my travels was amazing and I instantly decided that I wanted to do more of it, now I dedicate around 12 hours per week helping out 3 different organizations. I know that I am not going to change the World helping out like this but maybe if everyone did what I am doing, we can do so together. If you want to get involved in volunteering then here are some ways to do it.

Traveling

There are charitable organizations around the World which need help preserving the environment, helping endangered animal species or supporting impoverished communities around the World. You can combine a love of travel with volunteering and join any one of these programs who do outreach work across the World. If you have the time to do this and want to experience an altogether different way of life, then this kind of volunteering is for you.

Local

Even if you only have a few hours each week which you can give to someone else, this can help greatly and there is bound to be lots of places in your local community where you can help. Children’s centers, local hospitals and hospices or even charity shops are always on the lookout for volunteers to help them provide a better service and if you simply cold call them, then you will find many of them will be overjoyed at your offer to help.

Fundraising

Even if you are not able to help charities directly supporting their cause, you can help them in another way such as fundraising on the streets or door-to-door. Charities and charitable organizations rely solely on donations to continue their efforts and every donation which you can get for them will be incredible helpful. Many charities hire volunteers to raise money for them in a flexible capacity which means that even if you don’t know when you will be free to do some work, you can get fundraising whenever you have a spare hour or two.

If you are anything like I used to be and think that charity does start at home then ask yourself honestly who you are truly helping. Also ask yourself if you think that you honestly don’t have time to give for other people, even just a couple of hours each week to help someone less fortunate will go a very long way to making this World a much better place.